July 15/10 15:19 pm - Meier Pushes off for the Ride of his Life

Former Canadian champion keeps pedalling to raise funds to fight cancer a year after his brother died of the disease

On the sinewy left forearm of Christian Meier are the stark words "Last Chance."

The tattoo is on the inside of his arm, so that when he is doubled over the handlebars on his racing bike, and his legs are screaming and his lungs burning, Meier can look at his arm and think of his brother and keep going.

"For me, it's a reminder that you never know what's going to happen," the 25-year-old professional rider said Wednesday. "A lot of times, you're out training, you're out for five hours and have a lot of time to think. I think about my brother. We spend a lot of days suffering on the bike. But a lot of things come into perspective. If you don't want to suffer, you can just stop pedalling. It's that easy. For a lot of people like my brother, you can't just stop the suffering. It puts into perspective what pain really is."